Most companies meet veteran talent too late. They wait for the resume to show up on Indeed. By then, the best people are already gone. The strongest candidates lock in a job before they ever hit the open market.

There is a window. It opens about 12 to 18 months before a service member separates. During that window they are still in uniform, still drawing a paycheck, and starting to plan their next move. If you reach them early, you get first look at people other employers never see.

This guide walks through the timing. You will learn the transition timeline, how DoD SkillBridge works as a try-before-you-hire pipeline, and how to build a bench of pre-separation talent. The goal is simple. Stop competing for veterans on the open market. Meet them first.

Why Does Early Beat Waiting for the Resume?

Open-market hiring is a bidding war. A separated veteran with a clean resume and a clearance gets ten recruiters in their inbox. You are now one of ten. You compete on pay, perks, and speed. You lose more of these than you win.

Pre-separation hiring flips that. The service member is not yet a free agent. They are planning. They want a soft landing, not a scramble. If your company shows up early with a real path, you are not bidding against nine other firms. You are the plan.

Early access also buys you time to assess fit. You can run a service member through a real project before you commit a salary line to them. That lowers your hiring risk in a way a 45-minute interview never can.

There is supply on this side too. More than 1,000 new veteran profiles join Best Military Resume every month. These are people actively planning their exit. Many are 6 to 12 months out. Reaching them at that stage is the whole game.

What Does the Military Transition Timeline Look Like?

To hire early, you have to know when "early" is. The transition runs on a predictable clock. Knowing it tells you exactly when to make contact.

Federal law sets the formal start. Service members must complete pre-separation counseling no later than 365 days before they leave. That counseling kicks off the Transition Assistance Program (TAP), run by the Department of Labor and several other agencies. So a full year out, the member is already thinking hard about life after service.

Here is the rough shape of that year.

Notice where most companies show up. They wait for separation. That is step four. The smart move is step one. You can read the full member-side view in the ETS transition timeline breakdown, which shows exactly how the year plays out for the person you want to hire.

How Does SkillBridge Work as a Try-Before-You-Hire Pipeline?

DoD SkillBridge is the single best tool for pre-separation hiring. It lets a service member work at your company full-time during their last 180 days of service. You get their labor and their skills. The military keeps paying them.

The rules are clear and worth getting right. Here is what the official DoD SkillBridge program states.

Read point three again. This is where employers get the framing wrong. A SkillBridge intern is not a hire. They got selected into a competitive program. They are still drawing active-duty pay. There is no job offer until you make one and they sign it.

That framing matters for how you treat the relationship. You are auditioning each other. The member is testing your culture. You are testing their fit. If both sides like what they see, you convert the intern into a full hire at the end. That conversion is where the value lands.

Want the full host-side playbook? We wrote a dedicated guide on how to become a SkillBridge host company. It covers the eligibility rules, the application windows, and the obligations you take on as a host.

How Do You Build a Pipeline Before Separation?

Hiring one veteran early is luck. Building a pipeline is a system. The companies that win at this treat pre-separation talent like a recurring source, not a one-off.

You do not need a Fortune 500 program to do this. A midsize company can build a working pipeline with a few steps and a clear point of contact.

The pipeline pays off because of where it sits in the funnel. You are not screening strangers. You are converting people you already worked with. That cuts your time-to-fill and your bad-hire rate at the same time.

BMR's pool runs deep in the fields midsize companies hire for most. Project and program management, IT and cyber, logistics and supply chain, and cleared defense talent all show up in volume. With 60,000+ resumes built on the platform, the supply of pre-separation candidates is steady and growing.

What Roles Are Easiest to Fill This Way?

Some roles convert from military experience faster than others. If you are starting a pipeline, lead with the seats where the skill match is obvious. You will fill them quicker and prove the model before you expand.

Cleared talent deserves a special note. A current security clearance is one of the most expensive things to buy on the open market. A separating member who already holds one saves you months and real money. Defense contractors and GovCon firms should lead with this seat.

If you want a wider view of where veteran demand is strong right now, our breakdown of where veterans are getting hired in 2026 covers the fastest-growing fields and what they pay.

What Mistakes Do Employers Make With Early Hiring?

Pre-separation hiring works. But there are a few ways to get it wrong. Most failures come from treating a service member like a standard civilian applicant. They are not. The rules and the timing are different.

The first mistake is showing up late. By the time a member separates, they have already talked to other companies. If your first contact is a job posting after their last day, you missed the window. Reach them while they are still planning.

The second mistake is misreading SkillBridge. Some employers think a SkillBridge intern is a free trial they can drop with no follow-up. The intern is auditioning your company too. If you do not plan to convert strong performers, word spreads fast in the veteran community. Your future pipeline dries up.

The third mistake is paying the intern a salary. The member is already paid by the military during the program. A second paycheck from you can break the program rules. Keep the internship unpaid on your side and convert to a paid offer at the end.

The fourth mistake is forcing a perfect resume match. A separating member may not have the exact civilian title you posted. Look at the skill underneath. A logistics chief who never held the title "supply chain manager" often runs a bigger operation than the civilian who did. Judge the work, not the words.

What Do You Get From Hiring Pre-Separation Talent?

The case is not charity. It is math. Pre-separation hiring lowers cost, lowers risk, and fills seats faster. Those are the three things every hiring leader cares about.

Cost drops because SkillBridge labor carries no salary line during the internship. You get months of real work without a payroll hit. If the fit is right, you convert. If it is not, you walk away clean.

Risk drops because you saw the person work before you committed. A 45-minute interview is a guess. A 90-day project is proof. You know their work ethic, their judgment, and their fit with your team before you sign a thing.

Speed improves because the seat is filled before it ever opens on the market. No long sourcing cycle. No bidding war. The person is ready on day one because they already know your systems. If you want the broader case for the hire itself, see why veterans make great employees.

How Do You Start Your Own Pipeline?

You do not need to build this alone. The hard part is reach. Finding members who are 6 to 12 months out, planning their exit, and matched to your roles takes a source. That is what BMR provides.

More than 1,000 new veteran profiles join the platform every month. They are active. They are planning. Many are exactly the pre-separation candidates this guide describes. The pool runs deep in project management, IT and cyber, logistics, and cleared defense talent.

Start small. Pick one or two roles you struggle to fill. Decide whether to host a SkillBridge intern or source from the planning pool directly. Then make first contact early, run the audition, and convert. Once one seat works, repeat it.

Keep your process simple on the member's side too. Give them one clear point of contact. Move fast on decisions. A service member juggling separation paperwork does not have time for a six-round process. The companies that close are the ones that respect the candidate's time.

The companies that win veteran talent are not the ones with the biggest budgets. They are the ones who show up first. If you want first look at people planning their transition right now, partner with us to source veteran talent.